84 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
October 6, 1888. 
s^oSJidUi^Uf^. 
Carnations—Split Pods. 
By E. S. Dodwell. 
My esteemed friend Mr. R. Dean, at p. 22 of your 
issue for the 8th September, refers to Carnation Mrs. 
Reynolds Hole, and expresses the fear that this variety 
possesses the radical defects of a split pod. He enlarges, 
and very properly, on the advantage of varieties which 
in the process of blooming retain the calyx intact—that 
is, which open equally all round only so far as the 
upper lobes of the calyx—deplores the existence of the 
“split pod in not a few of our finest Carnations,” and 
compliments me by citing from my little book “the 
reason impelling the disqualification of a flower possess¬ 
ing a split pod is, of course, to be found in the fact 
that were a split pod tolerated its symmetry would be 
fatally impaired.” 
I feel the compliment implied in the reference, yet 
nevertheless shall be glad to be permitted to say one or 
two words on this subject. Incidentally I should not 
have supposed the variety named Mrs. Reynolds Hole 
had been open to the charge. We bloomed it, were 
much pleased with it, and I did not note any marked 
evidence of the defect ; but as to this fact, Mr. Dean’s 
observation is just as good as mine, and all we can ever 
do is to speak according to our experience. 
Upon the general subject I wish to say, my friend, 
citing from my little book, quotes from the conditions 
referring to competition —conditions I have done my 
best during a long life to uphold, and which I have no 
desire to see relaxed. Other reasons beyond that 
adduced might readily be given to justify the main¬ 
tenance of the rule disqualifying the split pod upon the 
exhibition table ; but it is not necessary to adduce 
them. For the home stage, however, and for all the 
purposes of decoration—granting equality of refinement, 
texture, brilliancy and harmony of colour or colours, 
and large well-shaped petals—the split pod is as effective 
(in some cases more so) than the flower which presents 
its beauties in exact and equal measure from its five- 
lobed encasement. Such a statement coming from 
me may excite some surprise, and possibly, from 
friends who have not given careful consideration to the 
question, or had the advantage of a wide experience, 
some condemnation. Be that as it may, I feel bound 
to make the statement, and I am well assured the facts 
will sustain the assertion. How often have I watched 
the beauty of flowers afllicted—if those interested choose 
so to speak—with this habit, pouring out their wealth 
of inflorescence—a veritable cascade of glowing colour ! 
And how constantly the admiration of visitors has been 
drawn to their glory ! Then the wonderful variety of 
their form, rivalling the Lily in its diversity, and 
plainly showing how little nature cares for trammels. 
It is no new thing to me to have become sensible of 
their beauty, as for forty years I have watched and 
admired it, and for at least half of that time wife and 
daughters have chosen flowers of this habit for the 
decoration of the table, the mantel-shelf, or the sanctum 
of sanctums—the withdrawing room. 
Saying thus much of the split pod, and defending 
the retention of flowers with such a habit, let me go 
yet another step forward, and say a word upon the 
fimbriate edge. Ho one who has read my little book 
with attention will assume it a new thing for me to 
uphold within certain limits the fimbriate (fringed) 
edge. In the fully-developed bizarres, the flakes, 
the section now called Picotees, with its lovely curved 
markings of narrow or broader widths—in many fancies, 
and in many seifs, the fringed edge would be an in¬ 
sufferable defect, destructive to their harmony and 
incompatible with their enjoyment. In these the 
smooth edge is imperative, and wherever the fringed 
edge is put on it is seen at once to be a drawback. 
But there are others, and many, to which the fimbriation 
of the edge gives additional life and expression, and 
especially is this the case in the yellow-grounds, which 
occupy such a prominent place in the public favour, 
and amongst which as many unmistakeable indications 
show we are plainly upon the threshold of a great 
development. 
In his plea, written just forty years ago, for the 
improvement of the yellow-ground Picotee, Dr. Horner, 
at the close of his exordium, spoke of its " countless 
combinations and diversities,” both of the ground 
colour and markings, and urged because of these, “ its 
great natural beauties and loveliness as a flower,” the 
effort too long delayed “should be commenced in 
earnest to raise it to its true position—the chief of the 
Dianthus class, and constitute it the most perfect, as 
it is the most beautiful and attractive.” 
It is most natural in this movement that florists 
shall revert to past experience and propose to follow 
old lines. Be it so. As I have already said, I have 
done my best during a long life to maintain laws educed 
from wide experience and intelligent observation, yet, 
nevertheless, as in all things in human life there ever 
will be, there have been in our path many haltings, 
and partings of the ways. Hew and unforeseen cir¬ 
cumstances have arisen, novel conditions to be 
determined, and men and opinions have widely differed. 
Will it not seem strange when I say forty years ago a 
whole class of florists who resolutely held themselves 
to be most orthodox, ignored the sweetest section, the 
pink and purple, amongst bizarres, and frowned upon 
the most lovely of Picotees, the rose-edged class. Yet 
this is history, buried in the past beyond doubt, but yet 
history. 
Souvenir de la Malmaison if placed upon the ex¬ 
hibition table would be rejected by the florist almost 
with contempt, and I should sustain the rejection, 
yet no florist of experience would deny its beauty or its 
great utility for decorative purposes. When the 
Japanese Chrysanthemums, with their wonderful 
wealth of beauty, were first introduced, many an eye, 
trained to admiration of the incurved section, looked 
askance at their tasselled, fringed, and fantastic forms, 
and declined to find delight. I will hope neither 
habit nor prejudice will prevail to prevent my fellows 
in the coming days recognising the great breadth of 
variety, and the marvellous beauty and glory of colour 
vouchsafed to us in the yellow-ground Carnations.— 
The Cottage, Stanley Hoad, Oxford. 
--*3rO- 
THE PAMPAS GRASS. 
In the early part of the season, those who avail them¬ 
selves of the subjects at command, have their lawns 
decorated with the showy and feathery plumes of Arundo 
conspicua. As these become tarnished, or so much 
destroyed as to be useless for ornamental purposes, the 
Pampas Grass (Gynerium argenteum) takes its place, 
proving a handsome object in the landscape. However 
ornamental it may be amongst shrubs, it is never seen 
to better purpose than when planted by itself in an 
open position on the lawn, or when an isolated bed of 
circular form is filled with it. The stamens and pistils 
are on separate plants, and there is, from a garden point 
of view, greater differences than these. Our illustration 
shows the female plant, which has upright plumy 
panicles of a beautiful silvery white. The male plant 
differs in having the branches of the panicle of the 
flowers less densely arranged, and distinctly drooping, 
while the whole has a decidedly reddish brown or 
purplish tinge. The male plant usually flowers earlier 
than the female, but both ultimately adorn the lawn 
together, and are, therefore, most useful for that 
purpose at this season, when most flowers are being 
spoiled by bad weather. The two forms should be 
grown together in the same bed, or in contiguity, so as 
to show off one another by contrast. A well-drained 
position is the best for this noble Grass. 
-->£r<-- 
HARDY PASSION FLOWERS. 
Until the charming white variety of Passiflora ccerulea 
was introduced, the latter was practically our only 
hardy Passion Flower. P. ccerulea Constance Elliott is 
a delightful companion to it. I saw the other day a 
fine plant of it on the front of the new stables at 
Hanger Hill House, Ealing ; and it must be admitted 
that it is unusual to see a stable decorated in this way. 
I may remark parenthetically, that not only has Mr. 
E. M. Helson made his stables to smile with flower 
and foliage, but he has given gardens to the coachman 
and stablemen, which gives them very pleasant em¬ 
ployment during their leisure hours, when the weather 
admits of their being in the open air. 
In reference to P. coerulea, the term • ‘ hardy ” must be 
used in a qualifying sense. Trained to a wall or house 
front, and with some protection to the stem in very 
severe weather, this plant will thrive and flower freely 
in most parts of England ; and if not so gorgeous as 
its congeners under glass, it has the immense advantage 
of disporting itself freely in the open air, and casting 
its vestment of beauty over our house walls. And then 
its flowers are followed by its yellow fruit, and in the 
autumn flowers and fruit alike are seen blending them¬ 
selves on the same plant. All this can be written of 
Constance Elliott. 
The hardy Passion Flower is an accommodating 
plant, as it will do well in any good garden soil. When 
planted a good dressing of manure should be placed in 
the soil, and a surface space should be reserved so that 
water can be given in hot, drying weather, and a good 
mulching of manure applied also. This should be 
given every summer, as the plant is a very free and 
even rampant grower, and needs to be sustained in its 
work of house decoration. In the autumn it can be 
pruned back hard, as it is such a free grower and soon 
covers a great space of wall. I would strongly re¬ 
commend that the stem and roots be protected during 
the winter, as they are likely to suffer during a time of 
unusually severe frost. 
What a quantity of plant lore has gathered round 
this charming wild flower of the South American 
forests ! It is closely associated with religious ideas, 
for did not the Spaniards, when they first saw the 
lovely bloom of this plant as it hung in rich festoons 
upon the branches of the forest trees, regard them as 
a token that the Indians should be converted to 
Christianity, as they saw in its several parts the 
emblems of the Passion of our Lord. Dr. Masters is of 
opinion that the species called Passiflora ineamata, the 
flesh-coloured Passion Flower, also a native of South 
America, is the species in which the semblance of the 
parts of the flower to the instruments of our Lord f s 
passion was first observed. The cross, the scourge, the 
hammer, the nails, the crown of thorns, even ten of 
the apostles—Judas, who betrayed, and Peter, who 
denied, being absent—all may be seen by the imagina¬ 
tion in the Passion Flower. Monardes, in 1593, was 
the first to call attention to this peculiarity. Soon 
afterwards the plant was in flower at Bologna and 
at Rome. There appears to be some little confusion as 
to the exact date, but it may safely be said to have 
been in cultivation in Italy before 1609. Then it 
was probably introduced into Belgium, and is known 
to have been grown in this country in 1629.— R. D. 
-- 
FRUIT CULTURE FOR PROFIT. 
{Concluded from p. 70.) 
The fruit which stands most in national importance is, 
of course, the Apple, and it seems strange that we 
should allow foreign nations to usurp our position in 
the supply of this very necessary want. In the 200 
trees required for the rood I should apportion 100 
Apple trees, and for a continual supply of culinary 
fruit, Keswick Codlin, Duchess of Oldenburg, Lord 
Suffield,- Stirling Castle, Worcester Pearmain, Manks’ 
Codlin, Ecklinville Seedling, Lord Grosvenor, Warner’s 
King, Blenheim Orange, Baxter’s Pearmain, Lady 
Henniker, Tower of Glamis, Betty Geeson, and 
Dumelow’s Seedling will last from August to the end of 
April; of dessert Apples, Red Juneating, Irish Peach, 
Summer Golden Pippin, Devonshire Quarrenden, 
Williams’ Favourite, Ribston Pippin, Cox’s Orange 
Pippin, King of the Pippins, Blenheim Orange, Man- 
nington’s Pearmain, Lord Burghley, Sturmer Pippin, 
and Allen’s Everlasting will give a supply from June 
to May. 
On the Paradise stock all these Apples will 
form fruitful and profitable bushes, and are all market¬ 
able Apples, and, in my opinion, are very much better 
than any Baldwins or Hewtown Pippins. Some of 
these kinds, such as the Manks’ Codlin and Stirling 
Castle, can be planted 6 ft. apart. Worked on the 
Crab stock, they are so fertile that they are soon 
dwarfed by the production of fruit. As with Plums, I 
should recommend trees of two or three years old being 
planted. Of Apples of recent introduction I have not 
found Mr. Gladstone so good as it was represented. It 
is not earlier than the Juneating, is very unequal in 
size, and has the unpleasant habit of being in a constant 
perspiration. Lady Henniker is a large andffine Apple. 
Peasgood’s Honsuch is very handsome and large, but 
doe3 not bear so freely in my soil as the Apples I have 
named. The stock English Apple, Blenheim Pippin, 
is a long time coming into bearing, but when fruitful 
always commands a high price. This and the Dume¬ 
low’s Seedling would, no doubt, be valuable for cutting 
into chips and rings. 
The analysis of the Apple differs from the Plum. 
There are present:— 
Potash . 35‘68 Iron . 1-40 
Soda ... ... 26'09 Phosphorus ... 13'59 
Lime ... ... 4'08 Sulphur ... ... 6 P 09 
Magnesia. 8'75 Silicon . 4'32 
The Pear is the next in rank as an industrial fruit, 
but it by no means equals the Apple or the Plum in 
importance ; indeed, during a great part of the year it 
is seen only on the tables of the wealthy. I have, 
however, had a considerable experience of Pears as 
standard trees. Within my recollection I have seen 
planted and destroyed the following sorts Summer 
Bergamot, Lammas, Passans du Portugal, Windsor, 
Williams' Bon ChrOtien, Dunmore, Beurre d’Amanlis, 
